More to life than a hearse Pt 2

So you didn't buy a hearse afterall?

To the non-goth the idea of a goth car is a strange one, but hell, we all enjoy our little toys. For some, black paint and some gothic tunes on the stereo will do.

So what if your G.A.F ride then? Is it a goth car, or did you goth it up?

For me, it is the simple stuff, a rather funereal arrangement of black roses and a small skull tastefully sat between the rear shelf speakers, and a small gypsy rose gold pendant hanging from the rear view mirror. Not exactly the reaper's chariot but we are in a credit crunch and it is a Lexus darling.

What do you drive and why?

Have you taken the classic or hotrod approach and made a road monster, or did you decide to build an american behemoth, have you taken the route of the Japanese Bippu or VIP look to your Toyota Celsior, Honda Legend, or Nissan President, or does your little subcompact hatchback have a plushy Cthulu on the back seat and the collect works of Aleister Crowley on audio book?

How far have you gone down the goth car route?

Maybe you can match the attention to detail of the Bel Air Lugosi, both the owner and the car.

This is a car inspired by the classic 1950 custom car and adding some dark gothic elements, and not assembled in a high budget American rod shop, but hand built by a big haired enthusiast in Whitby.

Or perhaps you are more Jap VIP styler

With tucked wheels and perfect paint, originally, the toy of the aspiring Yakuza, quickly becoming the default look for the well paid japanese youth, it is easily a style that could suit the goth car, being a modern interpretation of the classic lowrider.

Once the choice of gang bosses, industrial magnates and emperors, the typical VIP or Bippu car would have been arround £50-100k new, and some, especially those produced by the styling houses are new or very near new, while others go with the classic route, giving immaculate examples of obselete models the treatment, with the deep dished wheels and slammed, usually airbagged rides and crazy wheel camber.

Or maybe you are an old skool rodder at heart and roll a rat?

The rat or traditional rod is a hark back to the original ethos of hotrodding. Stripping anything not needed out of the car in an effort to save weight and gain performance, along with hopped up engines and speedparts fitted in peoples back yards. These cars are the antithesis if the big budget show rod, sometimes even esqueing paint, taking aesthetic corruption to the point of being a form of inverted snobbery.

So how do you roll the dark highways? Modern or retro, mint or minging, do you show and shine or scratch and go. There is more to life than eurobox and the nine to five, and rat doesn't have to mean the rat race, whether VIP or RAT or Custom, do it your way.

May the road rise to meet you.

More to life than a hearse.

What could be more stunning than a hearse. Or the Funeral coach if you prefer. Each vehicle is a thing of beauty and coach built to the original buyers requirement. Culture bears a large part in the design of a hearse as much as anything else. Traditionally the motorised hearse in the UK was based on one of the classic Luxury cars such as Daimler or Rolls Royce, with the chassis and normally, but not always, the area infront of the windscree being based on the original vehicle, and a bespoke load area being added to suit the needs of the particular client making the order. No two hearses need be the same. There are always touches that make all hearses unique, common to most UK hearsesDouble deck" which allows the occupants to be stored out of sight when travelling from the funeral parlour to the place of the funeral, or where the family will meet the procession.

And of course we must not forget the special hearses like those based arround motorcycles with an ornate sidecar to make the last ride. Some joke it is the fastest route to the grave, but for many bikers and their faimilies it is the only way to go.

Other countries have their own hearses that differ not only in being based on native cars for the region but also in the style of execution. In the US, naturally the larger Dodge/Cadillac/Buicks are chosen for their monsterous bulk and large but lazy engines.

Style variants exist too, with both the half windowed Landau and the full windowed Limousine. Both these styles can also be fitted out in what is described as a "3-way" style. This allows the casket platform or deck to be swung round and the casket or coffin removed from either side of the hearse. In this case, the platform swings over the bearer seats. Where a Landau is used, because of the half covered rear style, a flower car is often used to allow floral tributes to be visible to mourners and those paying their respects to the procession. These behemoths are a sight to behold as they respectfully take their occupants to their final interment.
Most visually exciting of all hearses are the Asian/Oriental Buddhist style hearses which mirror to the intricate detail of the temple. All the beauty of a fully decorated buddhist temple is lavished on the casket carrying portion of the vehicle.

Although it is common to use large American Sedans and large local vehicles such as the Lexus LS Series (The Toyota Celsior), the Nissan President etc, because of the smaller simpler nature of the caskets intended for cremation, sometimes a regular stationwagon might be used for the chassis base, still ending up as the magnificence pictured on the right. Honouring the dead is an almost universal deed and nothing illustrates this as well as the Buddhist hearse.

All things come to an end, even the commercial life of a hearse, and sadly over the years so many of this magnificently built creature have found their final destruction on the banger/demolition derby circuits. Luckily, there are also enthusiasts who do their bit to keep more of them on the road. And the luck for the new owner doesn't end there. They get a low mileage bespoke vehicle, maintained with no expense spared and always based on a luxury vehicle.

Enthusiasts of these fine vehicles meet all over the world, and it goes to show just how varied the typical hearse owners are and differing background from which they hail.

• http://www.hearseclub.co.uk/
• http://www.hearseclub.com/
• http://www.hearsedriver.com/
• http://www.raincityhearse.org/